Monday, February 6, 2012 8:01:00 AMSimple way to explain it to people not smart enough to get the scientist's explanation: Set a ball and a lamp in an otherwise dark room. Walk around the ball to see the shadow/light sides. You only see the entire ball when you are looking at it from an angle close to the light source. Same phenomenon you learn in art class when you start learning light and shadows.

Saturday, February 4, 2012 9:15:17 PM@SarahofBorg: I'm afraid you`ve got it wrong yourself. A full moon ALWAYS rises at approximately sunset (give or take an hour) and sets at sunrise (give or take an hour). It`s opposite the sun in the sky, which is why it`s full. Similarly, a new moon ALWAYS rises at approximately sunrise and sets at dawn. And the first quarter phase rises at approximately midday, while the last quarter phase rises at approximately midnight.

A corollary to the above is that a lunar eclipse always occurs during a full moon. This is because the Earth`s shadow is falling on the Moon, which means (of course) that the Moon and Sun are opposite each other in the sky relative to Earth.

And for anyone still following this discussion, Yes, I recalled the above without Googling any of it. I still remember my elementary schoolteacher illustrating all of this in a dark classroom with a globe, an orange, and a flashlight.